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Day 4 - Eisenach

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A short road trip from Frankfurt is the historic city of Eisenach. Here you will find the home of legendary composer Johann Sebastian Bach – as well as a museum dedicated to him – and also the famous Wartburg Castle, where Martin Luther translated the Bible into German.

Along with those major attractions, the town is a great place to explore with old streets, many shops – including a fabulous chocolate shop – and historic buildings. Eisenach is a good place to get a feel of what German life was like in the past, a little bit of a contrast to the modern side of Frankfurt.

You can travel to Eisenach and Wartburg by car, bus or train.

More on Wartburg
According to legend, the Wartburg was founded in 1067 by Ludwig der Springer (Ludwig the Jumper). With him began the unprecedented development of the "Ludovinger" family, who ruled for more than 200 years as the most influential princes in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.

The Wartburg was first documented in 1080. Bruno, the bishop of Merseburg, described in his book of the Saxon War "De Bello Saxonico," the temporary military camp of King Heinrich IV by a castle called Wartberg.

The construction of the main building, the Palas, began around 1155. It was the first of its kind, and it is currently considered to be the best preserved Romanesque secular building north of the Alps.

A disastrous fire struck the Wartburg in 1317. After the fire, the south tower was constructed and the new chapel was built into the Palas.

Martin Luther, who was excommunicated by the pope and outlawed by the emperor, sought refuge in the bailiff's lodge at the Wartburg. During the months of his protective custody, he lived and worked in a sparsely furnished room, today known as the Luther Room. In only 10 weeks he translated the New Testament from the original Greek texts into German.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe stayed at the Wartburg Castle for five weeks in 1777. His visit there is characterized by his enthusiasm for nature.

Today the visual knowledge of the decayed buildings that Goethe preserved in his drawings is invaluable. The house of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach recalled the "golden age" of classical Weimar and decided to revive and continue it in the Wartburg Castle.

After 1838 the artistically inclined Grand Duke Carl Alexander ordered the reconstruction of his ancestral castle in Thuringia. Hugo von Ritgen, the professor of architecture at the Giessen University, took on this task and it became his life's work. This work was accompanied by extensive artistic creativity, which was to culminate in Moritz von Schwind's fresco series in the first story of the Palas building and in the furnishing of the Festival Hall.

In the 50s extensive reconstruction took place inside the castle. The main building was partially "re-restored," back to the Romanesque style.

Next Page: Day 5 - Exploring

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